Air India plane headed to U.K. crashes near India's Ahmedabad airport
An Air India plane with more than 200 people on board crashed near the airport in India's western city of Ahmedabad, the airline and police officials said Thursday, without specifying whether there were any fatalities.
Flight AI171 was headed to London's Gatwick airport in the U.K., Air India said. Police officers said it crashed in a civilian area near the airport.
"At this moment, we are ascertaining the details and will share further updates," Air India wrote on X.
The crash occurred when the aircraft was taking off, television channels reported. Visuals showed debris on fire, with thick black smoke rising up into the sky near the airport.
They also showed visuals of people being moved on stretchers and being taken away in ambulances.
A total of 242 people were on board the flight, news agency ANI reported, citing Gujarat state's police control room.
India's CNN News18 TV channel said there were 220 passengers and 12 crew on the plane.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Japan Today
an hour ago
- Japan Today
U.S. officials survey Air India crash site as families continue to wait for bodies
FILE PHOTO: Members of Indian Army's engineering arm prepare to remove the wreckage of an Air India aircraft, bound for London's Gatwick Airport, which crashed during take-off from an airport in Ahmedabad, India June 14, 2025. REUTERS/Amit Dave/File Photo By Abhijith Ganapavaram, Aditya Kalra and Sudipto Ganguly Officials from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) surveyed the site of Air India plane crash that killed at least 271 people, sources said on Sunday, with families continuing to wait for DNA profiling results to identify charred bodies. Along with the NTSB, officials from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) were in Ahmedabad in western India's Gujarat state surveying the crash site, said one source with direct knowledge. The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner with 242 people on board bound for Gatwick Airport south of London began losing height seconds after take-off in Ahmedabad on Thursday, and erupted in a huge fireball as it hit buildings below. All but one on board were declared dead in the world's worst aviation disaster in a decade. Around 30 people died on the ground. Air India and the Indian government were looking at several aspects of the crash including issues linked to its engine thrust, flaps, and why the landing gear remained open as the plane took off and then came down. The secretary of the U.S. Department of Transport, Sean Duffy, said on Friday he was in the process of deploying a team from the FAA and the NTSB to India. Boeing and GE, whose engines were used in the plane, were also sending teams. "We'll take action should any recommendations come forward from the NTSB's investigation," Duffy said. The FAA and NSTB did not immediately respond to Reuters queries outside regular business hours. The FAA has said India will lead the investigation, but the NTSB is the official U.S. representative for providing assistance, while the FAA provides technical support. Boeing officials will also look at various parameters in their inspections, including the angle of landing, as they investigate the matter, said the first source. In all, around 10 officials were present at the site on Sunday, including from the NTSB, said the second source. India's aviation regulator has ordered all Boeing 787s being operated by local carriers to be inspected. The crash brings a fresh challenge for both Air India which has for years being trying to revamp its fleet, and Boeing, which is trying to rebuild public trust following a series of safety and production crises. In Ahmedabad, doctors were struggling to identify bodies that were charred in the incident, resorting to dental samples and DNA profiling. DNA samples of 32 victims from the crash have been successfully matched, Rajnish Patel, additional superintendent at the city's main hospital, said on Sunday. "The bodies for which DNA samples have been matched are being handed over to the families with due respect," he said. © Thomson Reuters 2025.
NHK
19 hours ago
- NHK
India sets up high-level panel for Air India plane crash investigation
India's government has set up a high-level committee tasked with investigating the cause of the Air India jet crash. Local media report that the death toll exceeds 270, including people killed on the ground. The plane bound for London Gatwick Airport carrying 242 people crashed on Thursday shortly after take-off in Ahmedabad, a city in the state of Gujarat. The government on Saturday announced the formation of the committee, which is independent from the investigation by the aviation authorities. The committee includes officials from the government and the military. It's due to hold its first session on Monday and plans to submit a report in three months. The plane hit a medical college dormitory. Local medical staff told NHK that many students were having lunch at a cafeteria at the time of the crash. Four students were reportedly left dead and more than 40 others injured at the facility, with many workers and their family members feared dead. Only one person out of the 242 people on board the plane was confirmed to have survived.
The Mainichi
2 days ago
- The Mainichi
Death toll in Indian plane crash climbs to 270 as search teams find more bodies
AHMEDABAD, India (AP) -- Search and recovery teams continued scouring the site of one of India's worst aviation disasters for a third day after the Air India flight fell from the sky and killed at least 270 people in Gujarat state, officials said Saturday. The London-bound Boeing 787 struck a medical college hostel in a residential area of the northwestern city of Ahmedabad minutes after takeoff Thursday, killing 241 people on board and at least 29 on the ground. One passenger survived. Recovery teams working until late Friday found at least 25 more bodies in the debris, officials said. Dr. Dhaval Gameti at the Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad told The Associated Press the facility had received 270 bodies, adding that the lone surviving passenger was still under observation for some of his wounds. "He is doing very well and will be ready to be discharged anytime soon," Gameti said Saturday. Hundreds of relatives of the crash victims have provided DNA samples at the hospital. Most bodies were charred or mutilated, making them unrecognizable. Some relatives expressed frustration Saturday that the process was taking too long. Authorities say it normally takes up to 72 hours to complete DNA matching and they are expediting the process. "Where are my children? Did you recover them?" asked Rafiq Abdullah, whose nephew, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren were on the flight. "I will have to ask questions. Government is not answering these questions." Another relative persistently asked hospital staff when his relative's body would be handed over to the family for last rites. "Give us the body," the relative insisted. Investigators on Friday recovered the plane's digital flight data recorder, or the black box, which was recovered from a rooftop near the crash site and likely will lead to clues about the cause of the accident. India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau said it had started working with "full force" to extract the data. The device is expected to reveal information about the engine and control settings, while the voice recorder will provide cockpit conversations, said Paul Fromme, a mechanical engineer with the U.K.-based Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Aviation safety consultant Jeff Guzzetti, a former crash investigator for both the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration, said investigators should be able to answer some important questions about what caused the crash as soon as next week as long as the flight data recorder is in good shape. Investigators likely are looking at whether wing flaps were set correctly, the engine lost power, alarms were going off inside the cockpit and if the plane's crew correctly logged information about the hot temperature outside and the weight of the fuel and passengers, Guzzetti said. Mistakes in the data could result in the wing flaps being set incorrectly, he said. Thursday's Air India crash involved a 12-year-old Boeing 787. Boeing planes have been plagued by safety issues on other types of aircraft. There are currently around 1,200 of the 787 Dreamliner aircraft worldwide and this was the first deadly crash in 16 years of operation, according to experts.
